Art Neuro

Do bees get bored? Can LSD be used to treat mental illness? Can fish become drug addicts?

All these questions, and more, exercise the thoughts of scientists working on the brain, and in Art Neuro’s debut exhibition they will now also stimulate the creativity of a group of artists.

Art Neuro brings together a collective of more than 30 neuroscientists and artists based in London. Working together they have devised an exhibition of 16 original artworks, which will be on display for the first time from 6-9th November at the Rag Factory just off Brick Lane, East London.

Each art piece has been produced from the collaboration between a scientist and artist working together over the past four months. Artworks include interactive optical illusions, a modern take on Hogarth’s Gin Lane exploring addiction, ceramics that magnify the molecules responsible for Alzheimer’s disease, paintings that make you question your object-recognition abilities and a cartoon of the life of a laboratory bumblebee.

“There’s an assumption often made that scientists and artists are different species – for me, we’re both problem solvers, enquiring minds exploring a common humanity and trying to communicate what we’ve discovered.”
-Kate Hughes, Art Neuro Artist

Over four days the Art Neuro exhibition will also be hosting a number of interactive events and workshops where visitors can learn about the brain through live experiments, knitting, screen-printing, poetry and mixology.

Supatra Marsh, Art Neuro founder explains the exhibition’s motivations: “Science can too often be regarded as the preserve of white-coated practitioners but our aim is to show that not only is science vibrant and creative but it can also be enjoyed by everyone. Art Neuro will immerse you in the world of neuroscience seen through the eyes of an artist.’’
Art Neuro was conceived by Supatra Marsh and co-curated by Diliana Pecheva, Jamie Upton, and Viviana Robles. It is hoped that the exhibition, funded by Queen Mary University of London, University College London and the Society of Biology, will also tour nationally.

For more details about Art Neuro visit artneuro.co.uk and join our mailing list here: bit.ly/artneuro

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